Tuesday, September 02, 2008

Stepping into the moccasin of another person

I love Vanilla magazine. It is probably the only magazine that I will spend my money on. Well, it comes with a whole load of advertisements and product selling but it gives very down-to-earth interviews and inspiring stories equipped with refreshing quotations every other pages. It often never fail to wow me, sometimes even to tears.

The September 2008 was no exception. September is Teachers' Day so Vanilla paid tribute to the teachers and made a cover story on one teacher. I love her reply to one question:

Q: In your work today, what remains most important to you?
A: I believe everyone is gifted. And art is a wonderful way to show this........ when I teach art now, I tell my kids it's ok if they paint a tree orange, as long as they can explain their thought process to me. It could be autumn! What's important to me is that.... they know how to reflect and ask why.

I think this is a living example of letting go and giving a child to voice their opinions. There is no absolute wrong.

A child in my Home threw his temper and started using vulgarities. When he was calmed, I found out that he felt very disappointed when his family did not visit him during the weekends. When I was faced with the vulgarities at me, it is really very easy to judge, take total control and "slap" the boy with rules - "You cannot be rude.". However, am I able to step back and appreciate his thought process and behavior??????

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